We spent last weekend at The Homestead on a family trip celebrating the end of the school year. The boys had SO much fun! Here’s the recap.
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The Homestead: Our Family Getaway!
Part of our goals for this year are to travel more with the boys. They LOVE to travel already and are always asking when our next trip is coming up. As I mentioned in this post, our strategy is to use credit card points to book these trips so our out-of-pocket costs are only food.
So we booked a trip to The Homestead (which is owned by Omni) to celebrate the end of school. It’s located just under 2 hours from Charlottesville in Hot Springs, VA. Thomas and I actually went together back in 2016 so this was our second visit and the first with kids.
Check out the video from the trip here!
Our Cozy Room
This was the first time since we went to Great Wolf Lodge when Birch was an infant that we all four shared a hotel room! Birch is past the napping / won’t-sleep-if-he-can-see-you stage. And while our room was super crowded with toys and beds, it was also very cozy and fun.
Ninja Mazen
The first night Mazen and I shared one bed – which was a double – and I felt like I was in a ninja fight the entire night. I got elbowed in the head multiple times! We both slept horribly. The second night we got a rollaway cot for him and that went MUCH better. Birch slept in his Lotus bed.
Afternoon Tea
After we checked in, we had tea and cookies in the Great Hall, complimentary on the house.
While I sipped tea, Thomas got the boys lollys at the candy store (Birch ate his over the course of the entire weekend one lick at a time!)
Allegany Springs Pools
And then we hit the pool! The forecast wasn’t great for Saturday, and so we didn’t know if this would be our only pool day. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t!)
The Allegany Springs pool complex is great with a sandbox, a baby pool, a middle pool (that is supposedly heated but wasn’t warm), a nice hot tub, a HUGE lush lazy river, and 3 water slides (2 big, 1 toddler sized). The staff at the pool was super nice, and the food and drinks menu was great too. Lots of options! They even brought around free popsicles to everyone each afternoon.
The Middle Pool
The Lazy River
I LOVE lazy rivers!!! Something about being moving keeps my brain happy, and I probably went around the loop 25 times in a row. (There were actually a good amount of people – I just took this pic in the morning!)
Dinner at Woody’s
After showers, we ate outside at the more casual restaurant called Woody’s. We had two pizzas and a salad.
Deep Dish Cookie
For dessert – this deep dish cookie with ice cream on top was AMAZING!!
Our dinner was next to the croquet lawn, which also had a fire pit and corn hole. Mazen made friends right away and both boys did lots of playing and running while we finished up dinner.
The Arcade
Of course we had to visit the arcade which was spacious. Birch raced cars and Mazen played ice hockey and bowling.
Movie Theater
There’s also a full-size movie theater with two showings each night: early for kids and later for teens. While I put Birch to bed, Thomas and Mazen went to watch Jumanji.
Saturday Morning
On Saturday morning we got a light breakfast at the market and then hit up the indoor pool. It was pretty chilly outside.
Lunch at Jefferson’s
We had a lunch at Jefferson’s (on the casual side) with soup and a wedge salad. Birch ate lots of delicious rolls with honey butter!
Mini Golf
After lunch, we took a little rest and then headed out for mini golf. We were disappointed that it was $15 an adult and $10 a kid, especially when we were already paying a $40/day resort charge. I don’t think it cost anything last time we were there. But we already had the boys’ hopes up (as I’m sure all the parents do) so we played and had a good time.
Pool Time
We had expected it to rain all day so we were so happy when the sun came out! Back to the pool! (Loving this new hat I just got for the pool / beach.)
Formal Night
Every mom’s gotta make her kids put on collared shirts for formal night, amiright?!
Dinner at Jefferson’s
We went back to Jefferson’s for dinner, this time on the beautiful outdoor patio.
Mazen devoured this lobster mac and cheese!
I loved my herby chicken with kale, goat cheese, and chimichurri potatoes.
And we ended the meal with chocolate hazelnut mousse!
Guess who I ran into!
Mazen was excused to go play corn hole and was spotted by none other than Fannetastic Anne!! Anne and I text almost daily and didn’t know each other was at The Homestead! I was already in my pajamas putting Birch down when Anne texted me to say she was with Thomas and Mazen. So Thomas and I switched places and Anne and I got to catch up for a bit.
Sunday Morning
We had a late check-out on Sunday, but we stuck around to play in the pool longer since it was significantly warmer!
The boys went to the driving range while Birch and I packed up the room and went for a little promenade around the property. (We also fell in mud – yay.)
The highlight of the pool morning was first a frog in the lazy river and then a SNAKE!!!!!!! Luckily I was out of the water at the time, but we heard some women screaming and thought someone was hurt. Turns out this guy went for a swim. The lifeguards used a net to get him out, but it took a good 15 minutes!
Pool Food
We had pool food for lunch. Mazen loved these nachos, and I had a tempeh and watermelon wrap (in the back).
We swam and floated with Anne and her fam for a bit before heading home to Cville.
These boys are already asking when we can go back to The Homestead! I would definitely recommend the summer months because the pool was the highlight of our stay. There is lots to see and do on the property (inside and out), and there’s even more hiking around the town. And if you’re going to The Homestead without kids – definitely check out the adult pool + spa!!
